While our movements have been successful in forcing global leaders to the point of signing a global agreement, in the end, the details of the Paris Agreement itself reflect many of the interests of the fossil fuel industry, and UN leaders acknlowledge that the total pledges made fall dramatically short of what is needed to prevent global catastrophe.

The real power that is advancing climate leadership is coming from below. The grassroots movements are the most powerful engines of change. Nothing demonstrates that more powerfully than the Indigenous-led struggle of the water defenders in Standing Rock. More than 5000 Indigenous people from hundreds of tribes across North America have maintained a continuous blockade of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Standing Rock is a turning point for the climate justice across North America, and will be a critical point of struggle as the US continues to position itself as a global climate leader in the world stage at COP22.

GGJ, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and the Climate Justice Alliance are again collaborating on an It Takes Roots delegation of frontline grassroots leaders to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP22) in Marrakesh, Morocco from November 7-19, 2016.